Science isn't just for scientists - it's not just a training for careers. Martin Rees More Quotes by Martin Rees More Quotes From Martin Rees God invented space so that not everything had to happen in Princeton. Martin Rees space god science Cosmology does, I think, affect the way that we perceive humanity's role in nature. One thing we've learnt from astronomy is that the future lying ahead is more prolonged than the past. Even our sun is less than halfway through its life. Martin Rees lying past thinking An insect is more complex than a star..and is a far greater challenge to understand. Martin Rees insects stars challenges The 'clean energy' challenge deserves a commitment akin to the Manhattan project or the Apollo moon landing. Martin Rees moon challenges commitment Campaigning against religion can be socially counter-productive. If teachers take the uncompromising line that God and Darwinism are irreconcilable, many young people raised in a faith-based culture will stick with their religion and be lost to science. Martin Rees lines teacher people Devastation could arise insidiously, rather than suddenly, through unsustainable pressure on energy supplies, food, water and other natural resources. Indeed, these pressures are the prime 'threats without enemies' that confront us. Martin Rees devastation water enemy I would support peaceful co-existence between religion and science because they concern different domains. Anyone who takes theology seriously knows that it's not a matter of using it to explain things that scientists are mystified by. Martin Rees peaceful support matter Scientists habitually moan that the public doesn't understand them. But they complain too much: public ignorance isn't peculiar to science. It's sad if some citizens can't tell a proton from a protein. But it's equally sad if they're ignorant of their nation's history, can't speak a second language, or can't find Venezuela or Syria on a map. Martin Rees ignorant too-much ignorance If we ever establish contact with intelligent aliens living on a planet around a distant star ... They would be made of similar atoms to us. They could trace their origins back to the big bang 13.7 billion years ago, and they would share with us the universe's future. However, the surest common culture would be mathematics. Martin Rees future stars science There may be organic life out there, or maybe machines created by long-dead civilizations, but any signals, even if they are difficult to decode, would tell us that the concepts of logic and physics are not limited to the hardware in human skulls, and will transform our view of the universe. Martin Rees views civilization life To ensure continuing prosperity in the global economy, nothing is more important than the development and application of knowledge and skills. Martin Rees development skills important I'm not myself religious but have no wish to insult or denigrate those who are. Martin Rees insult religious wish Charles Darwin [is my personal favorite Fellow of the Royal Society]. I suppose as a physical scientist I ought to have chosen Newton. He would have won hands down in an IQ test, but if you ask who was the most attractive personality then Darwin is the one you'd wish to meet. Newton was solitary and reclusive, even vain and vindictive in his later years when he was president of the society. Martin Rees personality hands years It's becoming clear that in a sense the cosmos provides the only laboratory where sufficiently extreme conditions are ever achieved to test new ideas on particle physics. The energies in the Big Bang were far higher than we can ever achieve on Earth. So by looking at evidence for the Big Bang, and by studying things like neutron stars, we are in effect learning something about fundamental physics. Martin Rees learning stars science Nuclear weapons can be dismantled, but they cannot be uninvented. Martin Rees nuclear-weapons nuclear weapons Crucial to science education is hands-on involvement: showing, not just telling; real experiments and field trips and not just "virtual reality". Martin Rees fields real hands The universe is still a place of mystery and wonder. Martin Rees mystery stills wonder Experiments that crash atoms together could start a chain reaction that erodes everything on Earth. Martin Rees atoms earth together Once the threshold is crossed when there is a self-sustaining level of life in space, then life's long-range future will be secure irrespective of any of the risks on Earth. Will this happen before our technological civilization disintegrates, leaving this as a might-have-been? Will the self-sustaining space communities be established before a catastrophe sets back the prospect of any such enterprise, perhaps foreclosing it forever? We live at what could be a defining moment for the cosmos. Martin Rees space moon civilization In future, children won't perceive the stars as mere twinkling points of light: they'll learn that each is a 'Sun', orbited by planets fully as interesting as those in our Solar system. Martin Rees stars light children
